Chennai Open: Ankita Raina crashes out in the first round

India's top women's singles player Ankita Raina crashed out of the WTA Chennai Open tennis tournament, losing to fourth-seed Tatjana Maria of Germany in the women's singles first round at the SDAT Stadium on Tuesday.

Maria, playing on the hard courts and hot and humid conditions of Chennai for the WTA 250 tennis tournament, got off to a superb start, breaking Ankita in the first game itself, and went on to win in straight sets, 0-6, 1-6 in one hour and 16 minutes.

Maria Tatjana, a semifinalist at Wimbledon 2022, broke Ankita in the first game and the German ranked 84th in the World, ran away with the first set, not allowing her Indian opponent to settle down.

Despite scoring more winners in the first set, Ankita, who is ranked 325th, could not convert her breakpoints and hit nine unforced errors compared to two from Tatjana Maria.

The trend continued in the second set as Ankita failed to convert some match points in the first game. The fifth game of the second set was the first that she won but that remained the only game she won as Maria dominated the one-sided match.

Top seed Alison Riske-Amritraj was stunned by Anastasia Gasanova in straight games, 6-2, 6-3 in a Round of 32 match while third-seed Magda Linette 6-4, 6-0.

Second seed Varvara Gracheva defeated Mariia Tkacheva 6-3, 6-2.